Election campaign
The advent of the Federation caused a profound shift in the structure of politics in the Rhodesias. Godfrey Huggins formed the Federal Party to fight the election, merging his own United Party with the opposition Rhodesia Party and incorporating supporters in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Several members of other opposition parties in Southern Rhodesia who supported federation also decided to join the Federal Party. Among them were William Eastwood, from the Rhodesia Labour Party, whose departure was prompted by the initial decision of his Party to fight the elections: Eastwood felt that this would divide supporters of federation. Another opposition member going over to the Federal Party was Ian Smith, who had been elected as a Liberal candidate in the 1948 general election.
Opponents of federation formed the Confederate Party, which advocated a system in the Rhodesias akin to apartheid in South Africa. This issue was also raised by Huggins who campaigned vigorously against it. Huggins believed the policy was unpopular and impractical. A group called the Progressive Party was formed to offer voters a party of the centre-left, but swiftly dissolved when it found organising a difficulty and realised it would not be able to nominate more than about two candidates. There were a few independent candidates, most notably two in Northern Rhodesia. Dr Alexander Scott in Lusaka and Norman Lacey in the copperbelt constituency of Nkana-Chingola both advocated a liberal racial policy similar to that which the Progressive Party had been intending to offer.
One unusual court case arose after nominations. Gaston Thornicroft, a mixed-race man who was described as "living like a European", was refused nomination for the Southern Rhodesia constituency for Europeans to represent African interests on the grounds that he was not a European. He challenged the decision in court but was unsuccessful.
Changes during the Assembly
Southern Rhodesia by-election
Rev. Percy Ibbotson, the specially elected European member representing African interests from Southern Rhodesia, died on 3 April 1955. When nominations closed on 27 May 1955, Harry Ellinder Davies was the only candidate to replace him, and was therefore declared elected unopposed.
Kafue by-election
Guy Van Eeden, who became increasingly opposed to Federal Party policies, was expelled from the party in July 1955 and responded by resigning on 8 July 1955 to seek re-election in his constituency of Kafue (Northern Rhodesia). The by-election was held on 6 October 1955.
Sebakwe by-election
J.R. Dendy Young, the Confederate Party member for Sebakwe (Southern Rhodesia), was appointed as a Judge. He resigned on 26 January 1956, and the by-election to succeed him was held on 5 April 1956. By this time, the Confederate Party had been dissolved and replaced by the Dominion Party.
Constituency
Electorate and turnout | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
|---|
| SEBAKWE | Robert Williamson | DP | 805 | 36.7 |
| Dr Morris Isaac Hirsch | Federal Party | 786 | 35.8 |
| Johannes Mathys de Kock | Com P | 603 | 27.5 |
Mrewa by-election
Neville Barrett, the Federal Party member for Mrewa (Southern Rhodesia) died on 15 April 1957. The by-election to replace him was held on 6 June 1957.
Mashonaland by-election
Jasper Savanhu, the specially elected African member for Mashonaland (Southern Rhodesia), had problems with the proposed new constitution in terms of its provisions for voters' qualifications. Although his responsibility was to represent the views of Africans, his electorate were predominantly Europeans. He therefore decided to vote for the proposals, but immediately to resign (1 August 1957) and seek re-election. When nominations closed on 27 September 1957, he was the only candidate nominated, and was therefore declared elected unopposed.
Seat vacant at dissolution
Paul Brereton (Federal Party), one of the ordinary members for Nyasaland, died on 21 July 1958. The seat was left vacant due to the imminent federal election.
Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia. It was initially administered, as were the two earlier protectorates, by the British South Africa Company (BSAC), a chartered company, on behalf of the British Government. From 1924, it was administered by the British Government as a protectorate, under similar conditions to other British-administered protectorates, and the special provisions required when it was administered by BSAC were terminated.
Sir Roland "Roy" Welensky was a Northern Rhodesian politician and the second and last Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
Elections in Zambia take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a presidential system. The President and National Assembly are simultaneously elected for five-year terms.
General elections were held in Rhodesia on 30 July 1974. They saw the Rhodesian Front of Ian Smith re-elected, once more winning every one of the 50 seats elected by white voters.
General elections were held in Southern Rhodesia on 14 December 1962. Voters elected 65 members of the Legislative Assembly. The election was notable for bringing to power the Rhodesian Front, initially under Winston Field, which set the colony on the course for its eventual Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
General elections were held in Southern Rhodesia on 14 April 1939, the fifth elections since the colony of Southern Rhodesia was granted internal self-government. Prime Minister Godfrey Huggins' United Party government were re-elected in a landslide. The elections were called slightly earlier than the deadline as Huggins feared the German invasion of Czechoslovakia would lead to European War.
The Rhodesia Labour Party was a political party which existed in Southern Rhodesia from 1923 until the 1950s. Originally formed on the model of the British Labour Party from trade unions and being especially dominated by railway workers, it formed the main opposition party from 1934 to 1946. The party suffered a catastrophic split during the Second World War and lost all its seats, and a further split over the attitude to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland ended its involvement in Rhodesian politics.
General elections were held in Southern Rhodesia on 15 September 1948. They saw Prime Minister Godfrey Huggins regain the overall majority he had lost in the previous elections in 1946. Huggins' United Party won a landslide, reducing the opposition Liberal Party to a small minority.
The Rt Hon. Sir Robert Clarkson Tredgold, KCMG, PC, was a Rhodesian barrister, judge and politician.
The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (CAF), was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. It existed between 1953 and 1963.
General elections were held in Northern Rhodesia on 19 February 1954. The result was a victory for the Federal Party, which won 10 of the 12 elected European seats in the Legislative Council.
General elections were held in Northern Rhodesia on 20 March 1959, although voting did not take place in two constituencies until 9 April. The United Federal Party (UFP) was expected to win the elections, and did so by taking 13 of the 22 elected seats on the Legislative Council.
General elections were held for the first time in Nyasaland on 15 March 1956.
The Bledisloe Commission, also known as the Rhodesia-Nyasaland Royal Commission, was a Royal Commission, appointed in 1937 and undertaking its enquiries between 1937 and 1939. to examine the possible closer union of the three British territories in Central Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. These territories were to some degree economically inter-dependent, and it was suggested that an association would promote their rapid development. Its chairman was Lord Bledisloe.
Godfrey Martin Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern, was a Rhodesian politician and physician. He served as the fourth Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1933 to 1953 and remained in office as the first Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland until October 1956, becoming the longest serving prime minister in British Commonwealth history, until 1961.
Federal elections were held in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland on 12 November 1958. The result was a victory for the ruling United Federal Party, with Roy Welensky remaining Prime Minister.
Harry Herbert Davies was a Southern Rhodesian Labour politician and Leader of the Opposition in the territory's Legislative Assembly from 1929 to 1944. Originally from Wales, he moved to Southern Rhodesia in 1920 and became an estate agent in Bulawayo. He ran for the Southern Rhodesian Labour Party in Bulawayo District in the 1924 general election, but was not elected. After standing successfully in Bulawayo South in the 1928 election, he sat in the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly for 20 years. In 1929 he was elected leader of the Southern Rhodesian Labour Party, thereby becoming Leader of the Opposition, a post he held until 1944.
The Nyasaland Association was a political party in Nyasaland.
Maureen Thelma Watson was a Rhodesian politician.
Michael Hill Blackwood CBE was a lawyer and politician who spent most of his working life in colonial Nyasaland and in Malawi in the early years of its independence. Although he represented the interests of European settlers before independence and opposed both the transfer of power to the African majority and the break-up of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, he remained in the country as a member of its legislature after Malawi’s independence and until his retirement on 1983.
